1918

Events of 1918

21 February 1918

3 March 1918

Soviet Russia concludes separate peace at Brest-Litovsk with Germany and her allies.

21 March 1918

Second Battle of the Somme marked by the German Spring Offensive, the ‘Kaiserschlacht’. Germans attack along a 50 mile front south of Arras.

22 March 1918

The German Operation Michael (also known as the Second Battle of the Somme) is a Pyrrhic victory. They use new ‘Stormtrooper’ assault teams to smash through British positions west of St Quentin, taking 16,000 British prisoners.

23 March 1918

German assaults now reach the Somme Line. Artillery bombardment of Paris begins.

9 April 1918

22 April 1918

Allies carry out raids against the harbours of Ostend and Zeebrugge.
Obsolete vessels are driven ashore and blown up in order to blockade the entrances. Zeebrugge is partially successful; the Ostend raid fails.

29 April 1918

The Battle of the Lys ends. Three British Divisions hold off 13 German divisions, inflicting crippling loss.

10 May 1918

The British launch a second raid on Ostend. HMS Vindictive is this time successfully scuttled in the harbour entrance. German cruisers are no longer able to use the port.

19 May 1918

The German Air Force launches its largest and last raid on London. Out of the 33 aircraft, 6 are lost, while 49 civilians are killed and 177 wounded.

27 May 1918

Operation Blucher, the third German Spring Offensive assaults the French army along the Aisne River. The French are forced back to the Marne but hold the river after being reinforced by American troops.

15 June 1918

The second Battle of the Piave River, Italy, opens with a massive offensive by the Austro-Hungarian Army. Italian and British troops first hold and then push back the attackers. Despite heavy losses the Allies destroy the Austro-Hungarian Army, precipitating the collapse of the the Empire.

15 July 1918

The second Battle of the Marne marks the final phase of the German Spring Offensive. Allied counter attacks inflict irreplaceable German casualties. The defeat leads to the cancellation of the planned Invasion of Flanders and puts the Germans on the
complete defensive.

8 August 1918

The second Battle of Amiens begins. German resistance is sporadic and thousands surrender. Fighting is now defined by mobility as the lines of trenches are breached.

27 September 1918

The Great British Offensive on the Cambrai Front leads to the storming of the Hindenburg Line.The Battle of St Quentin – British and American troops launch devastating offensives, piercing the Hindenburg Line along the Canal Du Nord and St Quentin Canal.

30 September 1918

British and Arab troops take Damascus, capturing 7,000 prisoners and securing stability in the Middle East.

4 October 1918

The German and Austrian peace proposal is sent to the American President, Woodrow Wilson, requesting an armistice.

8 October 1918

The Allies advance along a 20 mile front from St Quentin to Cambrai and drive the Germans back 3 miles, taking Cambrai and le Cateau. Over 10,000 Germans are captured.

17 October 1918

British and American troops launch attacks at the Battle of the Selle. The British liberate Lille and Douai. Belgians retake Ostend and reach Zeebrugge the following day. The whole of the Channel coast in the west of Flanders is liberated.

23 October 1918

The British launch a night attack with all three of their armies, the First, the Second and the Fourth. This time the British advance six miles in two days. The British are now 20 miles behind the rear of the Hindenburg Line.

29 October 1918

German sailors aboard the High Seas Fleet at Jade mutiny and refuse to engage the British Fleet.

30 October 1918

The Turkish army surrenders to the British in Mesopotamia. Turkey signs an armistice with the Allies. Fighting ceases the following day.

3 November 1918

At Kiel, German sailors mutiny.
Austria-Hungary signs an armistice with the Allies.

8 November 1918

Armistice negotiations between the Allies and Germany begin in Ferdinand Foch’s railway carriage HQ at Compiègne

9 November 1918

11 November 1918

Armistice DayThe Armistice is signed at 5.00am and comes into effect at 11.00am.
At 10.57am Canadian Private George Lawrence Price is killed while on patrol in Canal du Centre. He is the last soldier to die in action on the Western front.

14 November 1918

General Von Lettow-Vorbeck surrenders his East African forces on the Chambezi River, Northern Rhodesia.

21 November 1918

The Capitulation of Rosyth – Nine German battleships, five battle-cruisers, seven cruisers and 49 destroyers arrive off Rosyth to surrender. Thirty nine U-Boats surrender off Harwich.

12 December 1918

The British Cavalry cross the Rhine and begin the Occupation of Cologne.

13 December 1918

Americans cross the Rhine and occupy the bridgehead at Coblenz.
Armistice is prolonged for one month until 17th January 1919.